Could WWE Be Eying a Prime Time Shift from USA to Facebook?

The WWE created its flagship Monday Night Raw for USA Network in 1993 — back when it was still the WWF — and has aired hundreds of episodes on the NBCUniversal cable network in the 24 years since, but a new analyst report out this morning suggests that the wrestling giant may be taking its main event and other prime time shows to Facebook.

The current deal with USA Network, which includes Raw on Mondays and SmackDown on Tuesdays, is set to expire at the end of September 2019. “We believe WWE is being significantly underpaid in its current Raw / SmackDown deal,” BTIG analyst Brandon Ross wrote in the new report, which notes that the two shows generate a staggering 260 hours of original programming a year a big ratings for USA Network. Ross estimates that USA Network is presently paying $140 million a year for its WWE broadcast rights and speculates that a new deal with USA, Facebook or other potential tech suitors could fetch $400 million or more.

“Facebook, Twitter and Amazon are all experimenting with live programming, including major sports programming, such as Thursday Night Football and MLB games,” Ross wrote. “And, if sports is indeed ‘the glue that holds the bundle together,’ we would expect them to be more aggressive in bidding for sports (or similar) at some point. We believe the NFL is hoping Amazon emerges as a bidder for a larger package of NFL rights, and that Amazon will consider this pending the data on its Thursday night experiment.”

The WWE’s current package is undervalued for a couple of reasons. One, the group negotiated its last renewal with USA Network in 2014 as it was launching its streaming WWE Network. “The Network’s effect on television ratings was unpredictable and competitive bidders to NBCU were hesitant to step-up,” Ross wrote. The other, sports are a hot property for broadcast and cable networks because they draw a big audience and those viewers — nearly all of whom watch live — aren’t skipping the commercials.

Scott Porch writes about the streaming-media industry for Decider and is also a contributing writer for Playboy. You can follow him on Twitter @ScottPorch.